School Council 2022-23

At Parkwood, we pledge our commitment to listening to the views, wishes and experiences of all our children. We endeavor to give all the children lots of opportunities to share their thoughts and opinions and play an active role in the decisions that affect their learning and well-being.

This year, we have joined the 'Smart School Council' community: an online platform that allows every child to have a voice, be a leader and fully appreciate the importance of democracy. It is 100% pupil-led, inclusive, raises pupil voice, and leads to real pupil-led change in schools.

There are three key elements to our Smart School Council system: Class Meetings, a Communications Team, and Action Teams.

Class Meetings

Class meetings are held weekly and during this time every child votes on a topical question, either related to the school, local community or the wider world. Each meeting lasts 5-10 minutes and they are run by our children, not the teachers!?Every class, needs to have one leader to host the meeting and read out the key question on the board, and one Note Taker, who writes down any key points or issues to discuss as necessary? As well as asking a new question each week, the children also get to see the results of the question from the previous week and any actions that will happen as a result.

Communications Team

Early next year we will be recruiting our first ever “Communications Team”.  Our communication team members have a very important role in ensuring everything involved within the School Council runs smoothly. The idea is that change within our school should be driven by our children not by just teachers. More details on this to follow in January 2023.

Action Teams

Action Teams are child -led groups that make positive?changes within the school. For example, this might be?setting up a new club or?organising a fundraising event. One of the roles on the Communications Team is the Action Team Developers who help to run some Action Teams and encourage students to set up their own. If students have an idea for a change they would like to make within the school, then they can set up an Action Team and make that change! 

Exciting Updates on this to follow in 2023.